alex speier

Jacoby Ellsbury made his return to the Red Sox lineup Wednesday night after three weeks in which he'd been sidelined by a broken foot. It would be an exaggeration to suggest cause and effect in his team's 15-run eruption. After all, the Sox were beneficiaries of the thin Denver air en route to seven extra-base hits (none by Ellsbury) in a 15-5 romp. And the team had hardly been stifled in Ellsbury's absence, averaging 5.4 runs per game, the second-highest mark in the American League and the third-highest mark in the majors, while forging a 10-6 record.

Even so, it took all of seven pitches on Wednesday -- called strike, called strike, ball, foul, foul, foul, single on a 1-2 slider -- for Ellsbury to issue a reminder about his impact at the top of the order. On a night when he went 1-for-2 with that single, a walk and scored a pair of runs, his return served notice that the Red Sox will enter the postseason with the most complete lineup in the league.

If healthy, Ellsbury is, quite simply, the best leadoff hitter in the American League. He's hitting .299 with a .355 OBP -- both marks that are atop the leaderboard for AL leadoff hitters with at least 300 plate appearances from that perch -- with a .424 slugging mark and an AL-best 52 steals.

He felt comfortable with the state of his foot in his return, even as he acknowledged that the healing process will remain incomplete until the winter.

"[It will take the bone] longer than three weeks [to fully heal]. It'll be something in the offseason," Ellsbury told reporters in Denver. "But I feel very comfortable with me going out there and playing. That's kind of where we're at right now.

"That was important to me to get back as soon as possible, get into some games before the postseason starts. Definitely very pleased. I know I'm pleased, the team's pleased, the docs were that I could go out and play tonight," he added. "I was just happy to get out there, play, run around. [I] kind of did everything I needed to do -- sprint down the line, run for a ball in the gap, just do everything I needed to do."

That, obviously, was a positive sign for the Sox. But it wasn't the only important sight for the Sox on Wednesday. With Ellsbury back in the leadoff spot and Shane Victorino (3-for-5 with his 14th homer) in the two hole, the Sox lineup was imposing from top to bottom.

The fifth through eighth hitters -- Daniel Nava, Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Stephen Drew, Will Middlebrooks -- combined to go 10-for-20 with seven runs, 10 RBIs and two homers (both by Middlebrooks). That sort of top-to-bottom depth (something in which even starting pitcher Jake Peavy took part, slamming a double) is at the heart of a Sox lineup that is alone in scoring more than 5.0 runs per game -- indeed, despite the absence of a surpassing talent such as Miguel Cabrera or Mike Trout, the team has plated 32 more runs than any other club in the majors due to wave after wave of offensive threat.

Indeed, it may have been Middlebrooks' show of force that represented an even more significant development for the Sox than Ellsbury's return. The 24-year-old entered Thursday mired in a 5-for-39 slump in which he'd walked once while striking out 13 times, resulting in a .128/.150/.154 line. If advance scouts of playoff opponents were to circle one place in the Red Sox lineup that afforded a measure of breathing room, a hitter who would chase pitches out of the strike zone rather than forcing pitchers to leave something over the plate, the third baseman would represent that place.

Yet in slamming two homers -- one to left-center, the other down the left-field line for his 16th and 17th longballs of the season -- Middlebrooks offered a reminder that opponents can look past him (or anyone else in the Sox lineup) only at their own peril. After all, even with the slump, Middlebrooks is hitting .298 with a .354 OBP and .519 slugging mark in 38 games since returning to the big leagues from his spell in the minors.

And that, in turn, helps to define why the Red Sox lineup, from top to bottom, is such a beast entering the postseason. In comparison to other teams in playoff contention from the AL, the Sox seem to feature fewer holes.

The chart below breaks down each AL playoff contender's performance by lineup position in terms of average, OBP and slugging (numbers do not include Wednesday's game). A red number indicates an area where a team's performance falls below the league average.

Most teams feature not only individual instances where teams fall below average, but what might be characterized as a lineup black hole -- a lineup spot that is below league average in average, OBP and slugging. The Sox join the Tigers as the only teams in contention without a single black hole. Indeed, aside from Boston and Detroit, every other AL contender features two areas with below-average across-the-board performance. The Sox, in fact, have just one single area where they've had below-average performance -- that being the slugging mark of their No. 3 hitter, where Dustin Pedroia's yearlong struggles with his thumb injury have sapped his power.

Aside from that, the Sox have received performance that is at least in line with league average, and typically exceeds it comfortably. The Tigers, whose only deficiencies have been the slugging mark of their cleanup and No. 6 hitters, are the only other team that has a similarly ferocious composition.

In that sense, the return of Ellsbury was less a reminder of one player's abilities as it was an entire team's. The return of the best leadoff hitter in the American League gives the Sox a lineup of unrivaled depth among their competitors for the World Series.

Dickerson and Price discuss the RB position and who will get a majority of the workload. They also talk about missing Revis and the CB position. The boys also get into more Deflategate discussions with callers.

Dickerson and Price are live from Fenway today and kick off NFL Sunday discussing some of the events at Pats training camp this week. Then they get into the court battle between Brady and Goodell and where we go from here? The guys give their predictions on just how many games Brady will in fact sit out. They get into the Chris Mortenson situation after he backed out of the D&C interview. Finally, Trags (Mike Petraglia) of WEEI.com joins the boys live from training camp.

How long will this rebuild take? How much money will it take to keep Bae Crowder? Are Draft Picks even worth anything? With the Danny Ainge not landing any big names in the draft, and unable to lure any big names in free agency, Sam and Ben discussed if the Celtics are doomed moving forward.

Joe and Dave are joined by Pedro who was at the game and had his number 45 retired by the Red Sox in a very touching pregame ceremony. Pedro talks about going into the Hall of Fame, his time in Boston and love for the game of baseball.

The awesomely knowledgeable Fluto Shinzawa calls DJ, Naoko and Pete to talk about his thoughts on the future of the B's. He discusses his column from earlier this week on Cam Neely wanting to give Claude the ax earlier in the season but not getting the ok. Fluto shares his thoughts on Chiarelli's firing, the future for Claude and where the Bruins should go from here. He also gives his opinion on potential moves the team can make, who would fit in here, his thoughts on the NHL playoffs so far and more.

In the final hour of the "midseason finale" as DJ likes to call it, the crew discuss more about the future of the Bruins franchise, the possible power struggle in the front office and who should be the head coach going forward. They talk to intelligent and talented Fluto Shinzawa about all of these thing and more in an excellent interview, and finally, DJ says THANK YOU!

Intern extraordinaire Lucy joins Jerry once again to discuss the most vexing questions in the history of mankind: can men and women coexist? What are the differences between how men and women think? And how mean can women really be?

If you play Fantasy Football then you know there are several “Elephants in the Room!” And nobody is talking about them. Are they afraid? We’re not! The Dallas Running game, Leveon Bell, Demarco Murray & Ryan Matthews in the Philly backfield, the Saints offense and so much more. Right here, WEEI’s own Jim Hackett and Pete Davidson cover all of the main “Elephants in the Room” to help you get the edge for your upcoming drafts. Enjoy!